I’m Outta Here!!! Going to CALIFORNIA!

This week we will be on the road

You know dang well that I go NO WHERE without my laptop,

So you just might be lucky enough to have me pop in,

But don’t hold your breath 🙂  I’m going to CALIFORNIA!  To hang out with {THIS COOL CHICK}
I hope you have a fantastic, delicious Thanksgiving ~ don’t forget to remember what this day is all about.
Just a Motivating Monday will resume next Monday 🙂

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This Blogging Community ROCKS

There are millions of mom blogs. You can jump from blog to blog and glance over quickly to find out if that one feels like one that you’ll like… if that blogger is a blogger that you think you can connect with you might follow them.  Then through commenting, tweeting, connecting you become friends.  Whether you click with the blogs you come across or not, they are still the heart of a soul.  They are where someone turns to vent, to brag, to plea, to share, to grow, to learn, to love.  There are a lot of people in my world and probably your’s that can’t quite grasp that.  They can’t quite grasp how we can have such close friendships over the internet.  How we can truly know someone just by stopping by their blog.

This is how.  In real life we normally don’t express every, single thing that we are feeling.  For the most part we can talk it out, but it doesn’t really all come out.  My feelings are displayed here on my blog.  This blog was not started for that reason.  My blog was started solely to benefit family back in California.  Now, if none of them even knew about my blog I’d probably be a lot happier {I love you all, but sometimes I’d like to write about things on here that I feel I can’t}  But I’m pretty good about letting my feelings out here.  The friends that I have met in this community understand me in ways that friends in my real life don’t.  And I in turn “get” them, because I have gone and internalized their feelings through reading their blog.

The community of this blogging world is beyond amazing to me.  Twitter/blogging…. the people are wonderful.  They’re quick to support you, help you, give you advice and just make you feel like somebody out there really does care about how you feel.  That somebody out there really is listening.
I have learned more about this community these past few days that makes me proud to be a part of it.  There has been a tragedy in our community with a very well known and loved blogger named Anissa.  She has suffered a massive stroke and is in DESPERATE need of prayers… prayers for a full recovery, and prayers for her family to hang on during these horribly trying times.  This community has flocked together with prayers and willingness to help in any way they can.  That to me is amazing!
I have not had the opportunity to get to know Anissa like most of the people in our community have.  I haven’t got to meet her at conferences, I didn’t follow her during her daughter’s cancer journey, but Anissa has touched my heart.  The words that I have read from others about her make me smile and hope that I too one day will get the pleasure of hugging her and becoming real friends with a wonderful soul….. I’m counting on her being at Blogher10 so that I can FINALLY MEET HER!
I’m so grateful for the friends that have touched my soul through their writings.  I’m so grateful for the friends that have come and given me the words of support that I needed at many times.  I’m grateful to be a part of this community and couldn’t imagine my life without it.  I thank all of my readers from the depths of my soul, whether you comment or not… just knowing that you’re there, listening matters to me.

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I’m baaaack! Let’s get this Wildtree Party started RIGHT!

Bringing back a redo of a previous Works for Me Wednesday this week, because I am relaunching and going full strong into my Wildtree Business again. It’s delicious people… here’s an old post I wrote about it.


I want to share with moms out there an amazing new food line that is ALL NATURAL! There’s no preservatives, there’s no MSG, there’s no Dyes, fillers, no additives, made in a peanut free facility. Everything in these products are NATURAL! The company that is making this possible for us is called {Wildtree}.


I’m a work at home mom, and by the time dinner rolls around I’m cringing as I’m feeding my family junk. Sure, it’s a home cooked meal, but half the stuff I used to make it contain horrible things that my family doesn’t deserve to consume. However, I don’t have the time to spend hours in the kitchen making things from scratch. It just isn’t realistic for me.


In addition to all of the above reasons, I have a daughter with a heart condition, a son that has food aversions and reactions to certain dyes (red dye is not a good one if you have a child with ADD or ADHD…. actually any dye isn’t) and is in the process of being diagnosed for Sensory Processing Disorder and a husband with high blood pressure.


Another point I really want to express here is about the Grapeseed Oil. I have always been a huge fan of Olive Oil. In my mind I was cooking with the best possible health option for my family…. nope, I was wrong. Grapeseed Oil is definitely the way to go. Wildtree offers a variet of {Grapeseed Oils} that are infused with DELICIOUS flavors. You can read all about the health benefits {HERE}.


Wildtree is opening up across the country! It’s an all-natural, preservative-free direct sales company that is growing like crazy! It is direct sales/party plan, and it’s the simplest party I’ve ever seen or done, with about 10 minutes of information and then tasting many of the wonderful samples! It’s FUN and very social!

Basically there are 4 ways to be involved:

1. As a Representative – and we need you! There are just over 1000 representatives across the country at this point,
so you could be THE FIRST or one of the first in your neck of the woods!
It’s $99 for the kit… and it’s risk free if you eat!!


2. As a Host – just let me know when you want to earn tons of free
food products (you MUST try the grapseed oils, the Asian Ginger Plum Dressing,
and the Scampi blend first!). I can get a host packet in the mail and coach
you on how to have a GREAT party. Super easy!


3. As a Culinary Club Member – this is a wholesale buying opportunity
with specials made available monthly to you!
It’s $25 for a Lifetime Membership and well worth every penny….
hey, you get 20% off of your purchases!


4. As a Customer! You will LOVE these fabulous products!
Plus, their products are taste guaranteed,
which means if you don’t like something
they’ll buy it back from you or you can trade it for something else!
You can’t beat that….. no grocery store will give you that luxury.


See my website for placing your order or taking advantage of our representative opportunity. There is a short video to watch if you are interested in doing so!

Did you know that Whole Foods is the fastest growing chain in the U.S.? Have you noticed that many of the fast-food chains are taking the trans-fats our of their food?

Generations ago, most Americans ate natural, nutritious food they grew themselves or bought from small, local grocers.

Then large food companies were formed and sought to improve their bottom line by extending the shelf life of their products. Scientists added more and more chemicals to foods. Now we all realize that many of those additives are harmful and governments have begun to address the issue.

Smart consumers interested in the health of their families aren’t waiting for government action. They are looking for better, healthier sources of foods. Look around you…. That’s where Wildtree comes in! It was formed on the premise that food should not only be natural and delicious but also easy to prepare. (and QUICK!) So whether you’re a gourmet cook, a wanna-be, or HATE it, Wildtree could be just what you need.

I look forward in hearing from you. My personal website for Wildtree is {www.amanda.mywildtree.com}, and all of my contact information is on the site if you have any questions. You can even sign up from there to become a rep!

I really love Wildtree. Our health is the most important thing, and I’m seeing the benefits, I’ve seen my husband’s blood pressure drop, his weight drop, and we have not had to sacrifice taste!

For things that work for other’s head over to {Works for Me Wednesday} for some GREAT TIPS!!

If you want to be notified about special deals, new products, recipes that I (and other Wildtree users) have discovered be sure to follow me on {TWITTER}



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Things I Love Thursday – Kid’s Internet Browser

I wanted to share something that I TOTALLY LOVE! I’m probably going to post this today for Things I Love Thursday and then again on Works for me Wednesday, because it is that awesome.

Do you have a young child that likes to play on the internet? There is an internet browser FOR THEM! It’s called {Kid Rocket} and has preset sites for kids, a timer, a light bright game, helps out with reading… it is AMAZING!  It has on it all of the sites that my son loves to go on already plus some that we never even knew about.

It’s the safest way for your kid to play online…. and I love it!

For more Things I Love Thursday go to {Diaper Diaries}

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Would you still blog?

When you made your blog my bet is going to be on the fact that you didn’t do it to see how many followers you might get. You didn’t create the blog to make friends that would change your life for the better. You probably didn’t create your blog to check how many hits you’ve received in the past hour on that one post you just want the whole world to see.

My bet will be on the fact that you started your blog as a means to have a place to go to for YOU.  A place that you can record your family’s moments, your family’s trials, just your family’s life in general.  If you’re like me, you made your blog to be a place that you pour the fountain of thoughts that are always flowing through your brain to somewhere where it’s put into perspective.

When I created this blog I had NO CLUE on what the blog world was all about.  I no idea that I’d soon want people to read what I had to say, make friends that I absolutely love to death and have never even had the pleasure of getting to know them in real life  People who I’ve just had a chance to get to know them as they really are inside, not the outside. 

I had no clue that I would learn ways to make my life better, my family’s life better, and more importantly me better.  I had no clue that I’d have a desire to pick up cooking and baking and try to organize my cleaning.  I had no clue that I’d meet people who have experienced some of the same things I have in my life and understand where I am coming from when I’m expressing my feelings. 

We are human, we love the attention of people noticing, commenting, following, recognizing and appreciating our words.  Every single one of us bloggers in the end are here for the recognition, to know that people here care about the things that we have to say.

But in the end if all of that were not here, {the blogger community, the comments, the recognition} would you still be blogging?  Would you still run to your blog with all of your ideas, opinions, life stories?  

I can say that yes, I would.  I remember why I started this blog, and that is what keeps me going.  There are times that I write things and don’t have a comment, but I’m happy I wrote it.  I actually even have an inspirational carnival {Just a Motivating Monday} that goes weeks without a link up, but the reason why I started the carnival wasn’t just for link ups, but to share things that inspire people and to start somebody’s week off good.  So, even if I don’t receive a comment or a link up, if I put a smile on someone’s face on a Monday that just isn’t working for them, my carnival served its purpose for the week.

I love what comes with blogging.  I love the friendships I’ve made, the things I’ve learned, the life stories I’ve read and that I will never forget, but in the end if it were here or not I’d still be here…. blogging.

Got Girl Time?

I like to occasionally jump on a random blog carnival that I find. Today I found one that seemed pretty stinkin cool. It’s called Aloha Friday… you ask a simple question on your blog and others can answer in your comments.

You can head over to {An Island Life} and link up to do the same or find a bunch of other questions. So I’ll use this fun carnival for an opportunity to ask random things I always wonder… can’t wait to see answers….

Do you make time for yourself to just be a girl without the husband, without the kids? What do you do with this time?

Personally, I think it’s extremely important. Lately I haven’t done this, but need to get back into it. One of my most favorite away from family guilty pleasures is getting a massage. It’s an every 2 week kind of thing for this girl, but it’s been a couple of months since I’ve gotten in (thanks to company, vacations…. and the list could go on and on). I’m pretty bad about getting together w/friends w/out kids, but need to try a little harder on this. We still are girls, and we still need our girl time.

I talked about Tweetdeck…might as well talk Twitter

I talked all about Tweetdeck yesterday, and I figured I might as well share my thoughts on why I love Twitter for {Things I Love Thursday} I have some tweeps that like the idea of twitter, but just aren’t really sure where to really start. So, I thought I’d share a little about me and and twitter, how I use it, and a share a cool tutorial I found.

I am starting to look at Twitter as my own personal huge forum. I have found that most forums unfortunately come with their fair share of CATTY DRAMA. Don’t get me wrong, there are many, many benefits to wonderful support of the forum communities! In fact, I have met some of my very close friends from forums, but the cattiness was too much for me. I chose to leave behind the drama, the “my way is better than your way” attitudes and venture off on my own in my little bloggity world. Visiting others’ blogs and peeking into the hearts of other women that are in your shoes helps you in ways that competing women cannot. The odds of you coming to my blog, reading something that comes from my heart and arguing with that is pretty slim. Of course it happens, but NOTHING like mommy forums.

I didn’t step into my full potential in this blog world until I succumbed to the over growing world of Twitter. I never fully “got it” until I saw on someone’s blog Follow Me on Twitter. I clicked, I read, a light went off, and I’ve been Tweet-a-leeting ever since.

Here is how Twitter is my own personal forum… a forum that can’t compete with any other forum, because it is every forum in 1….. You create your own universe, or should I say twitterverse on there. You get to choose your friends, you get to choose which conversations to jump into, and you get a full range of different people. It’s not just moms, it’s not just dads, it’s not just parents. There’s old, famous, single, taken, happy, depressed, crafty, analytical. You think it, there is it. And that is what I enjoy. I follow an awesome tweep that posts sewing patterns, a tweep that posts awesome photography tutorials, tweeps that post giveaways for things you can win for free. I can post something that I need and a random stranger can come and help you out, or say a prayer for you, and you may just find your new best friend there. It is an extremely supportive community, and I have made it into what I love.

You don’t feel obligated to ever have to post so much, reply to everything, because it’s a constant chat room where you come and go as you please. You can make it how you want it, and that’s exactly what I need in my life, a place that I can come and go as I please, without guilt, without obligation. But knowing… it’s always there. I’ve found at first that I didn’t want to follow too many people, because I didn’t want to get overwhelmed, but I’m now coming to the realization that the more people that you find that you have something in common with, all the better to follow them. You don’t (and most definitely shouldn’t) catch up on everything that you miss on twitter. When I log on to my Ubertwitter (on my blackberry) or get on my trusty {tweetdeck} I only go back 25 or so tweets to see the current happenings and of course check my mentions (anyone mentioning my username). If any of my people are talking something interesting or something I’d like to chime in on I will…. if not, I won’t. The more people you follow, the more conversations you have an option of joining. I’m random. I tweet all kinds of stuff about my day, my frustrations, my kids, my marriage, my friends, my family, literally… everything. Do I expect people to respond to everything I say? No, but I feel like there’s always someone listening, and that in itself feels pretty darn snazzy. I do try to reply to people often, comment on their happenings. Twitter is pretty dang awesome. It’s something that I will always be a part of, and am happy to have it in my life.

If you are into blogging, if you are into sales, or need to promote something what better way to get the word out there about what it is you want the world to know than to tweet it? I have an RSS feeder, but to be honest, I check the blog posts of those who tweet them first. It’s easy for me. I have found many new friends and new readers of my blog just by tweeting my link and what it is that I wrote about.

It’s fun to go and create your own twitterverse and make it what you want it to be. It’s fun to go and find your tweeps, and spend your days with them, because believe it or not that’s strangely what you do. If you’re not with Twitter ~ you should be. I’m just writing this post mainly to explain how and why I am a part of Twitter. You can use it to your advantage… you can make it your social network for you business, for your sanity, for your whatever… the thing is it’s your’s, make it what you would want to make of it. And nothing is my universe without my husband, so I made him become a part of my twitterverse… @Eazymoney25 is my TWEETHEART!

And for the record:
Tweeple = People on twitter

Tweeps = Peeps
Twitterverse = Twitter is like a cyber universe where almost every1 is a part of
Tweetheart = Sweetheart heard this 1 today…I think it might be my favorite twitter language

And that’s my thoughts on Twitter today. You make it into what you want it for. Please enjoy this tutorial I found, I think it’s THE BEST I’ve seen yet.

AND DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER BY CLICKING ON THE FOLLOW ME BUTTON ON MY HEADER!!

Tweetdeck…I love it!

Twitter is hot. I can’t believe it took me so long to jump on! I’m working on a twitter post that’s in the works. It’s nothing huge and special, but it’s how I use Twitter, why I use Twitter and all that stuff!

What I want to share with you today for Works for Me Wednesday is how Tweetdeck for Twitter works for me. How you can use it for so much more than just keeping in contact with your tweeps.

{Tweetdeck} is a program that you download onto your computer. I keep it minimized when I’m on my computer and can hear the ding when I new tweet comes through and a pop up comes up telling me which column was updated…. ah, columns… my FAVORITE part of Tweetdeck!

I always have the following columns up and active:

  • All Friends
  • Mentions
  • Direct Messages
  • “Friends” a group I created and added the tweeps I don’t want to miss anything on
  • Facebook Status

Let’s say you’re in the middle of a Twitter Party (which is much fun if you haven’t been a part of one yet) Tweetdeck allows you to add columns with a search word. Therefore if the party is using a hashtag of #twitterpartyfood you can add a column and any posts at all with that hash tag come up. Therefore you’re almost using it like a chat room.

Let’s say you specialize in something and want to be able to be in contact with people who mention your specialty… well, make a search column with that key word (or words) and watch in real time as it updates whenever it’s mentioned. Definitely a good thing for trying to promote things!

If you have other ways that Tweetdeck is awesome please, please, please share with me by leaving a comment and letting me and my readers know!!

Tweetdeck has made Twitter definitely enjoyable and easy for me while on my computer. I hope this helps you out in a way, if not… thanks for stopping by Garibay Soup anyways ~ feel free to have a look around and leave some comment love… because I love it! And I hope to see you back for Just a Motivating Monday ~ Garibay Soup’s Inspirational Carnival… because we all need inspiration in our lives!!!

Over at {We are THAT Family} there are many other things being linked up that work for others… head over with a nice drink of whatever does it for you and brace yourself for some knowledge you’ll want to use in your life.

And don’t forget to click on my Twitter Link in my header to follow me!